The Joys of Gas Fracking

The Joys of Gas Fracking

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Here are a few benefits and detriments to having hydraulic fracturing operations in your neighborhood.



* Leaking methane into the air and into the ground water

Once the shale layers are broken by the application of intense water pressure and held open by sand there is additional opportunity for the methane to flow to the desired conduit but it cannot be contained from also leaking into the groundwater and be expressed to the air by other previously drilled and poorly sealed wells in the area. The gas will seek the "path of least resistance" to the surface. If that is a residential or agricultural water well the gas will be dissolved in the water and come out like a carbonated beverage when the bottle is opened.

* Micro seismic activity

All that deep internal pressure in the rock layers will give rise to undesired cracking and that by definition is seismic activity, i.e. an earthquake. Small ones may be a nuisance but cumulative pressurizing of the strata may cause a damaging quake as it has in some heavily fracked regions.

* Toxic chemicals going into the ground and coming back out leak into GW

Fracturing used a cocktail of elements and compounds in the drilling and rock fracturing stages that are highly toxic and dangerous to humans, plant and wildlife. The cutting head of the drill turns the rock into fine particle that emerge as mud. This mud has all the chemicals that were put into the well and all the materials that were previously buried deep in the earth. These elements and compounds contain heavy metals (lead, arsenic, mercury, uranium, et al) and radioactivity. These items also leak into the groundwater causing it to be useless for human use.

* Drill cuttings must be disposed of somewhere

The drill cuttings must be disposed of somewhere. Typically it is stored on-site until the well is completed then it is either abandoned in place or transported off to be "processed". Some unscrupulous operators just truck it away and dump it where ever they want to.

* Drill cuttings have heavy metals and elevated levels of radioactivity

Drill cuttings are highly toxic as discussed above.

* Drill water that comes back out is toxic and must be contained and treated

Drill water and fracking water do not stay in the ground. It comes back out and must be treated else it contaminates the well site and everywhere around it. Treating it is not as simple as treating residential sewage which is primarily a biological process to degrade and remove organic compounds.

* 24/7 diesel generator noise and exhaust

Due to the locations of drill pads they must generate their own electricity to power the drilling equipment, light the place at night, pump water at high pressure. These generators are noisy and smell of diesel exhaust.

* Noise and vibration from high-pressure water pumps

There is a lot of vibration from the high-pressure pumps and the drilling equipment. Time is money when the operation costs hundreds of thousands of dollars per day. 24/7 operations are essential to the operation due to the costs. This nuisance must be borne by the human neighbors of every drill pad.



* Wells use multiple millions of gallons of water that must be trucked in

Most drill pads need to have water trucked in. Even if they last part of the delivery is by pipe, the entry point for the water usually is trucks. One million gallons of water requires in excess of 100 tank trucks. Typical water use is 5mg or 500 truckloads per site.

* Production wells need long pipe lines to move gas to collection points

Natural gas must be piped away from the wells. The gas be transported to a collection/transfer point.

* Gas collection/transfer points need to compress gas for transmission pipes

Before the gas can be introduced into a transmission line, it must be compressed to the high-pressure level of the transmission line. This requires yet another noisy diesel facility running 24/7.

* Well casings get old and crack over time

Even a new well can have problems with casing leaks but older one will eventually leak due to cracking and aging of the casing materials. Once a well is drilled it may sit, capped and awaiting actual production.

* There never is only one well. They are created in clusters of 5 to 10.

A drill pad is never alone as a single unit. Wells are drilled in clusters to make benefit of the closeness for supply delivery and production piping.

* Hundreds of truckloads of water, diesel fuel and chemicals create traffic

One million gallons of any liquid requires 100 truckloads (when using 10,000 gallon tanks.

* Truck accidents, pavement damage, shoulder damage and tight turns at intersections

10,000 gallons of water and the truck that carries it weight over 80,000 lbs (40 Tons). Road pavement wear is accelerated at those weights. Local bridges and culverts may not be rated for that range of weight. Smaller tanks are lighter but require more deliveries. More tank trucks mean more noise, congestion, opportunities for motor vehicle and pedestrian collisions. Most of the rural roads were not designed for heavy truck use therefore shoulder stability and intersection turning radii may not be adequate.

* Elevated crime levels are collateral with drilling operations.

Many new people in the community coming from all over the country are not "community minded." They are there for the paycheck and work. High levels of excess money from paychecks encourages illicit used for things like drugs and prostitution. While this may be good for drug dealers and prostitutes, it is contrary to the character of the existing community.

* Noise is a nuisance

Industrial land uses are not compatible with residential, tourist and agricultural land uses. The protracted periods of noise generation will be detrimental to the community

* Property values are negatively impacted by proximity to wells and drilling

When there is perceived or actual degradation of the landscape existing land and real estate values fall when located at or near a drilling operation. A study indicates a 5 to 10% in values within 0.9 miles of a drill site.
* Production intervals are usually short leading to shutdowns and abandonment

In takes a year or so to drill a well and prepare it for production. Most wells playout in a few years and may require additional fracturing to boost the output later in its lifecycle. Many times the well is merely shut down and/or abandoned. Bankruptcies are rife in this boom and Bust industry. Every bankruptcy filing seeks to limit the liability of the debtor in order to get out from under its obligations. This includes damage mitigation and remediation/reclamation of the well sites.

* Many out of town workers who are highly experienced in drilling.

Most drill site employees are experienced workers who travel to the well sites and work there until the drilling/fracturing operation is completed. Local talent is usually not employed at these sites.

* Only ancillary jobs for locals.

Restaurants, motels, grocery stores and pharmacies are the main beneficiaries of the drilling industry moving into town. But don't be fooled into expanding existing businesses because the industry packs up and leaves just as fast as it arrives.

The benefits of drilling for gas in your neighborhood.

* A few owners of larger parcels of land will be the ones who can sign a lease

The lot a house sits on is not sufficient in most cases for a drill pad construction. Apartments and condominiums are even less able to host a drill operation. The few large land owners are the ones who can sign a lease and be paid a royalty. They will be profiting at the expense of their neighbors who get little say in what takes place across their mutual property lines.

* County gets a short term boost in property tax revenues

While the county may derive a short term increase in property tax revenues, that doesn't last. Damage to roads and culvert, increases in policing, and other emergency services will easily overwhelm the increases in local revenues.

* People who are the "closers" that get permits approved and leases signed earn commissions

There is no guarantee that the people who "close" the deals will be the people who do the drilling and the production. Many signed leases and drilling permits are resold to make the profit without the company having to do anything.

* Financial incentives to local government can be lucrative.

Financial incentives to local government can be too great to pass up. Some "incentives" are outright bribes while others are promises of the betterment of the community for the sake of the residents.

* Local suppliers who can ramp up to provide goods and services can get new business

Things to remember.

* Keep in mind that there are two sides of the Equal Sign.

This equals That. Where there is a remuneration being paid, there are cost to cover. One must make sure that all he costs are covered or the deal is not a good one.

* The fracking boom is always short lived.

Drilling booms always go bust. They are all short-lived. They are no different that the S&L bust of the 1980s, the Tech-stock bust of the 2000s, the mortgage/housing boom/bust of 2007-9. Many localities are already Gone Bust and are sitting on an industrial wasteland.

* The damage done to the land, and water is an "externality" as far as the corporations are concerned.

That is, they drill for resources. They don't clean up after themselves. That is some other businesses' business.

* Drillers are speculators. They use other peoples' money to fund their drilling operations.

No driller ever cares anything about the land, communities or people who are in their way and constitute an expense and reduction of their profits.

* Producing gas is an "externality" as far as the driller is concerned.

Drillers don't care about production. They have already made their money drilling the hole.

* Many companies that get the permits issued and the leases signed only do so to sell those permits and leases at a profit to someone who will actually drill.

* Someone has to lay pipe lines between the production wells and the collection/transfer points.

* There are already tens-of-thousands of capped non-producing and unfinished well in the country.

* Many drilling/finishing enterprises file for bankruptcy and walk away from the sites when they get in over their heads.

* Profit is privatized. Loses are socialized. Expect to file lengthy lawsuits to get the drill sites remediated when they fail.

In the end, this nation needs natural gas to heat homes, run industries, generate electricity, drive some converted motor vehicles. Not all of that gas needs to come from every possible parcel of land in the country. There is a need for most things sometime, but not everything all of the time. Planned developments work far better than a haphazard development of anything anywhere. This is why we created land use zoning in the first place.